Greek Court Investigates Legality of 2015 Capital Controls

The Public Prosecutor of the Greek Court has been secretly investigating the legality of capital controls which the Greek government imposed during the summer of 2015, Protothema revealed on October 22. The Greek government introduced capital controls in June 2015 after the Greek public voted in a referendum on June 28 to not accept the conditions of a bailout imposed by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB). Without a new bailout structure in place, and to avoid complete collapse of the banking system, the Greek government permitted citizens to withdraw only €60 per day from personal bank accounts.

The controls were introduced when Greece’s bailout program ended, without the Greek government having reached a new agreement.

Greek banks shut down, and the government introduced capital controls following the victory of “No” voters in the referendum on whether or not Greece should accept the conditions of the bailout. The public prosecutor’s investigation has, therefore, been examining  the period lasting from the announcement of the referendum results by Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the imposition of the capital controls by Greece’s former Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis.

The preliminary investigation began in secret a few months ago after a handful of Greek citizens filed complaints regarding the economic hardships they had been experiencing since the capital controls were imposed. Ten witnesses, ranging from ordinary citizens to respected economists,  have already testified about whether the Greek government may have unjustifiably imposed capital controls. The court is also investigating the possibility of felony offences, which could culminate in convictions on treason charges for those involved.

According to Newsit, if the court’s prosecutor finds connections between the decisions made and governmental officials, then the Greek parliament, led by the opposition parties, will assume control of the investigation. Until the court releases the results of its investigation, however, it remains to be seen if and what consequences governmental officials may face for their involvement in the matter.